As you may or may not know, I'm really fascinated by our relationship with Time (it gets a capital T here because it's kind of a big deal). Befriending Time is even one of the 12 Foundational Skill Sets of Courageous Self-Care.

How we interact with Time affects every second of our day, not to mention our life. It's an idea worth thinking about. It's also worth taking action to improve that relationship.

I've had some thoughts and observations recently that I wanted to share with you.

When my daughter, Zoe, was little, I had visions of us baking together because that's something I loved doing with my mom. Zoe, however, had zero interest in whipping up magical creations in the kitchen with me. I was disappointed for a while but then accepted it and carried on having my own baked goods fun.

Fast forward about 12 years, and to my surprise, Zoe LOVES being in the kitchen. In fact, she spent all of yesterday evening making healthy donuts, cookies and scones for her...

Last week, I shared some of my secrets with you (about book writing and one woman shows and such) and then I inserted a tremendous cliffhanger, saying that I still had secrets!

I know you've been waiting allllllll week to find out the other parts of my life, that until now, I've kept locked away, like Rebel Wilson in her stylish but creepy dungeon in The Hustle. (Not sure what I'm talking about? It's a new movie released on Mother's Day co-starring Anne Hathaway which made me laugh out loud multiple times. Kind of like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels mixed with girl power.)

Now. The Secrets.

Usually I work on something quietly and privately and then when it's finished and successful and ready to go, I tell people about it. It's a very safe way to do things because if I don't actually finish or something goes awry, you'll never know and I still look gooood.

Today is a day to do things differently. And courageously. I'm going to share with you something that is a big...

I joined in the laughter and released the plan. Very soon afterwards, a new idea came my way. A big idea. A very scary idea.

At first I kept it a secret because it seemed so audacious, but I've become friends with the idea and am feeling effusive about putting it out into the world. Want to know what it is? I'm assuming you're giving...

Gratitude changes everything. Here are some ways I've used gratitude to make my life better in the last few hours:

1. I was looking at an income statement and feeling like it wasn't very high. Then I switched my mindset to say, "I'm so grateful for that income. A year ago I would have done anything to have that regular income (well, not anything, which is why I didn't have regular income... I wouldn't go so far as to get a "regular job" or train circus animals or peddle vacuums on a street corner). So anyways, I switched to a thankful place, and immediately felt so good about that income.

2. My husband did the dishes this morning. Amazing, right? But my inner critic who is often a fanatical perfection-oriented German when it comes to things being spic and span kept spotting bits of food and grease on the "clean" dishes. It took some inner work, but I switched into the mindset of feeling grateful that my husband does dishes, got up early to do them and made breakfast...

When we moved to our new place (almost a year ago, so I guess it's not that new), one of the things I was most excited about was living right across the street from a huge sportsplex. There's simply no excuse not to use it and I've been loving it.

I anticipated that I would increase my fitness, which has happened, but I didn't realize it would help me in unpredictable ways. Here's a hidden benefit of spending time at the gym.

You can do really weird stuff and feel like you totally fit in.

Want to know some of the weird stuff I've witnessed?

• an athlete running on a track while pulling a giant heavy contraption fastened to her body with some sort of harness • a guy making his way around the track by throwing punches in various combinations • a dude running on a treadmill breathing very loudly, moaning intermittently and also yelling encouraging phrases to himself (and anyone else nearby) • a contest to see who could balance the longest on a foam...

I just finished a Challenge-With-A-Capital-C at my gym where we had 44 days to complete 30 classes in yoga and/or spin cycling. I ended up doing 39 classes and in the process, learned a whole bunch of interesting stuff about myself. I thought you might be interested too, and I'll tell you why in a little bit.

The main reason I signed up for the Challenge was because of the amazing prizes. There's a $1500 credit at Fairmont Resorts up for grabs, along with a year of massages and some other enticing paraphernalia. ( I totally did not know how to spell that word. Who knew there was a second 'r' in there? Did you? I didn't.)

Back to the Challenge. Before it started, I had been going to the gym regularly and doing my own thing. Riding bikes, rowing, stair climbing, lifting some weights, running some laps on the track, etc. I had been enjoying it very much, and at the same time, kind of coasting. I was physically working hard and kind of thought I was at my fitness...

The other day, I posted on Facebook about an upcoming workshop I'm doing in Calgary, the Self-Care Pop Up. One of the comments that came back was a woman who said her ideal self-care would be getting a massage everyday.

While that does sound divine, it's one of the top mistakes I find that people make with self-care.

Let's say that self-care is a lotus flower. When you think of said lotus flower, what comes to mind?

I'm guessing the flower, right?

The same thing happens when we think of self-care. We tend to focus on activities that nourish our bodies, which is definitely a good thing. Buuuuut, it's not the whole thing.

The flower part of the lotus is only one aspect of its existence. It's the part that you can see and so it's that part that you focus on.

When you consider the other part of the lotus flower, it's definitely not as appealing. Under the surface, beneath the glorious, appealing, colourful eye candy, is the slimy, murky, convoluted ball of roots. Who...

Oh this being human... there's so much to learn. Take this morning, for example.

First of all, Paul (my beloved) and I slept through the alarm. That meant that there wasn't quite enough time to make the oatmeal I wanted. Paul suggested I make a tasty melange I've made in the past because it would be speedier.

It's this amazing blend of cooked apples in coconut oil, with peanut butter, and honey. Then it gets combined with other fresh fruit. Today's selection was mango, blueberries and capeberries (those tangy yellow berries that come with their own little leafy jacket). Finally, I planned to top it with the buckwheat and oat granola I made earlier this week along with some maple cinnamon coconut flakes. It was going to be so good!

I was happily bustling about, cutting the fruit and getting the bowls out, when I opened the lid to the apple pan. "Ohhhhhh noooooooo!" I cried out dramatically. "It's allllllllll burnt!"

I was chatting with a friend who works in the health industry recently who said by her estimate, more than 80% of people don't sleep well or feel rested in the morning. What do you think?

I wouldn't count myself in that 80% because I've spent time educating myself on great rest, and most importantly, I've put what I've learned into practice.

A lot of my energy comes from the self-care practices I've put in place before I head off to slumber sanctuary.

Curious about the self-care mistakes you might be making before bed?

WARNING: you might feel defensive when you read the mistakes, and your clever mind might start to make up excuses. I'm not attacking anyone here. I'm just sharing what choices I've made (backed up by sleep experts) that help me get a great night's sleep.

Ok, here are the mistakes:

Mistake #1. Watching stress-inducing TV, movies or videos before bed. That includes the news. Your subconscious notices everything you consume and the couple of hours...

Read this message carefully because this is how Courageous Self-Care makes your life better. Yes, it's a real life example and it's fresh, meaning it happened this very morning.

My kids go to a school that has a modified year-round calendar. That means they have different holidays from the regular public system. For years, these holidays have been a blessing and a major challenge for me. I love being productive and getting stuff done, particularly stuff involving Courageous Self-Care. I also love my kids and want to ensure their holidays are fun and filled with merrymaking.

In the past, I've tried many different approaches to this conundrum:

work while Zoe and Oakley are at home and encourage them to make their own fun

find other people to look after them so I can keep working

arrange playdates so they are occupied while I work

not do any work and spend the entire time with them (usually 10 days of holidays)